SCEA to launch Imports service on PS Store next week

SCEA will launch a new Imports service for the PlayStation Store next week, and it will offer Japan-only starting with Cho Aniki and Gaia Seed.

The Imports shop will consist of PSOne Classics starting September 21 but the games not feature English translations or localized elements, as each will be offered in “pure, unadulterated form.”

MonkeyPaw Games, the publisher of Cho Aniki and Gaia Seed and other imports for the PSN, said it wants to offer “titles that are easy to navigate” for non-Japanese players.

“You may wonder why some of the great Japanese titles you hear about in the press never make it to Western markets,” said the firm’s president John Greiner. “There are numerous reasons, but the biggest is translation.”

“A lot of cost goes into translation thus profitability becomes tenuous for many titles. Remove that barrier and a world of Japanese wonder comes rushing to your screen.

“We reckon there’s a pretty good appetite for these classics and we’ve priced them at a reduced rate to keep your impulsive curiosity piqued.”

Cho Aniki, Pre-Stage’s PS1 shooter from 1995 is one of the first offerings, and was considered at one time to be “too weird for publishers to gamble on” in the US.

Techno Soleil’s Gaia Seed is the other offering, which was originally released on PS1 in 1996. It contains a techno soundtrack with a more traditional horizontal shoot-’em-up style.